Where do I start, I am 25 years old, employed at a major wirehouse in the North East region and will get my production number in about three months time. Right now I face the Series 7 and Series 66 with health and life insurance exam after that.

I have a hunch that keeping a journal will make me accountable to myself and in asking for help make it easy for others to pinpoint the mistakes I am making.

My goal is to surpass my hurdles and become a million dollar producer for two reasons, 1) To earn a fantastic income 2) To steer clients into using assets correctly securing them a sense of peace from a solid financial future

I know there will be challenges, that this will be the hardest thing that I ever do and the odds are against me, but if I keep prospecting that I cannot fail, only get better with time as I sharpen my tools with which I do business with and from the sacrifices I make on the alter of rejection.

I have read quite a number of posts from Bondguy, Gaddock and many others who have provided very detailed and helpful advice and from their contributions I devise my own strategy.

I will report everyday what I acomplished at every phase of my training in a systematic manner. Each post will look like:

Goal of the day:

What was acomplished:

Personal Thoughts:

I will fill the goal of the day in the morning when I walk into the office and what was acomplished at the end of the night when I leave along with personal thoughts that I had

As of now based on what I have read, I am going to pitch on product and try to close over the phone. I plan on calling people on high yielding bonds (corporate, municipal, agencies etc).

The idea is that with my limited expereince and the wish washy nature of a service pitch, a solid product makes for a better hook. With a product once a client has opened an account I can reach them again to offer them my serivces and have a seat at the table and their trust.

Hello John, I'm (my name) calling from (my firm), I know you're busy do you have a minute to talk about a high yield limited inventory (corporate, municpal, etc) bond ?

Him/her: Yes (blah blah)

Great this Bond is rated Investment grade AAA, yielding (X%) with a maturity of (years). Its something we offer in a limited amount would you have anywhere from 10 thousand to 50 thousand to invest?

Him/Her: Yes (blah blah)

Thats good, I will tell you a little about myself and my firm, my personal philosophy is dedication to my clients no matter how large or small the account I take great pride in helping succesful people such as yourself create the wealth they deserve. My firm has a solid record of serving clients needs. With that I'll send you some information and the forms you'll need to get started.

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Now that is the perfect situation taking place, there will be many snags along the way and here is how I plan on addressing them.

Hello John, I'm (my name) calling from (my firm), I know you're busy do you have a minute to talk about a high yield limited inventory (corporate, municpal, etc) bond ?

Him/her: No (blah blah)

I understand, can I send you some information you can take a look at when you have time, it costs you nothing and I will never fill your inbox/mail with spam?

Him/her : Yes

Great, John then we'll catch up in three weeks time and you can ask me any questions then, have a great day. (hangup)

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Hello John, I'm (my name) calling from (my firm), I know you're busy do you have a minute to talk about a high yield limited inventory (corporate, municpal, etc) bond ?

Him/her: Yes

Great this Bond is rated Investment grade AAA, yielding (X%) with a maturity of (years). Its something we offer in a limited amount would you have anywhere from 10 thousand to 50 thousand to invest?

Him/her: No

I understand and thats perfectly okay, perhaps you have a cd or bond maturing in the future would you be intereted at a later time?

Him/her: no

Okay can I send you some information you can take a look at when you have time, it costs you nothing and I will never fill your inbox/mail with junk?

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Hello John, I'm (my name) calling from (my firm), I know you're busy do you have a minute to talk about a high yield limited inventory (corporate, municpal, etc) bond ?

Him/her: Yes

Great this Bond is rated Investment grade AAA, yielding (X%) with a maturity of (years). Its something we offer in a limited amount would you have anywhere from 10 thousand to 50 thousand to invest?

Him/her: (In-direct answer) I have a so and so maturing at such and such

Okay well John I'm going to be your area because (some excuse) why dont I swing by for a quick 15 minutes and we can talk about your plan for the money when it comes due?

Him/her: No Im too busy

Okay can I send you some information you can take a look at when you have time, it costs you nothing and I will never fill your inbox/mail with junk?

"do you have a minute to talk about a high yield limited inventory (corporate, municpal, etc) bond ?" - imo it's better to just go straight to the pitch. "the reason i'm calling, i have this exceptional blah blah blah yielding blah blah totally tax free. would you like to hear about it?" then shut up and wait for response. doesn't matter what the hell they say. start off by saying, "i understand.".. "i understand you're not in the market" .."i understand you're not liquid".."i understand you don't buy bonds" then say something like.."but when you are in the market, do you ever buy bonds? if not what do you usually like to invest in?" or something to that effect. jot down a few key qualiflying questions, be polite and follow up. and always remember, it's all about the numbers.

Hi Harkkam, strong opening post. Looks like you get it. Hope all goes well at the wire and you're able to stick to your mission.

The only thing I'd change (and you have some time to think about it) is your opening line on your opening calls. You're asking for someone you've never spoke to or offered anything to, to committ to a minute. (In their minds that prob means 10 mins) Not only is that a hurdle right off the bat, but you don't even need a minute. You're call is to find out if M/M has any interest in XYZ.

It seems you're more comfortable with leading with a question, and, gauging interest, then supplying product info. Bill Good perfected that with saying asking 'I'm calling with some important information on a tax free municipal bond fund, have you heard of these before?' And then giving the information, like you do in the followup. Just my suggestion, looks like you're going to have a rockin journal in '12.